“What are you doing?!” River yelled as he charged towards Flynn, ready to fight.
But at that moment, everyone froze.
Flynn lightly twisted the torn edge of “Mountain Villa” and the rice paper immediately separated into two layers.
Two layers?
Seeing this scene, everyone was no longer calm. They all hung their heads in despair with expressions as if they had just eaten shit.
Flynn said indifferently, “There is only one layer of rice paper in a real painting. And with the level of technology from eight hundred years ago, it would be impossible to create such a sandwich.”
“The lower layer of this fake is made to imitate an antique while the upper layer is used to make it look old.”
“If you can’t even see through such an obvious forgery technique, what good are you?”
Hearing Flynn’s words, everyone’s faces turned red.
“Uh… I only glanced at it earlier and thought that the brushwork and ink lines were very much in line with Gideon Prince’s style. I felt like it was a genuine piece. But if I looked closer, I could have found something wrong.”
“Yes! Yes! I was too far away and overall it looked genuine. If I studied it more carefully, I could definitely tell that it was fake!”
“Hey! If you walk by the river often enough your shoes will get wet eventually. Making mistakes is normal…”
Just now they were swearing up and down that this painting was authentic but now they couldn’t say anything coherent.
Rose also raised her eyebrows in surprise when she saw this scene.
She originally thought Flynn intentionally disgusted River by saying that this painting was fake but she didn’t expect it really was a forgery!
“A fake?! How can this be fake? It cost me 700, 000 dollars!” River fell onto his knees holding up his torn imitation piece while lamenting, “My money… 700, 000 dollars!”
He spent 700, 000 dollars using connections and grabbing spots for buying this painting which finally came into use today; Lilia also seemed satisfied.
It turned out to be a forgery!
River quickly turned around and explained to Lilia, “Ms. Hussain, I really had no idea that this painting wasn’t authentic. Otherwise, there’s no way I would’ve spent 700, 000 on it. You have got to believe me. I didn’t cheat you.”
Lilia waved her hand down suppressing her anger saying, “Everyone has their own specialty so you shouldn’t dabble where you don’t belong. Thank you for your intentions though. Sit down and let’s enjoy appreciating at these paintings!”
She hadn’t noticed earlier either that the painting wasn’t real so Flynn stole all her thunder which made her extremely annoyed.
Lilia couldn’t help but curse at River for being such a fool. Not only did he waste 700, 000 dollars, but he also embarrassed her in front of everyone!
River breathed a sigh of relief when Lilia forgave him, but his relief was short-lived as something terrible happened.
“Ms. Hussain, you better not accept his affections!” Flynn threw the opened “Mountain Villa” in front of Lilia with an expressionless face.
As the painting floated down to the ground, a few small words appeared on the edge of the lower paper: “Whoever wants it is an idiot!”
“What the hell…” River was so angry that he felt like his heart was going to explode. He sat down on the ground and even twisted his mouth.
“Oh my god!”
Everyone’s faces turned red after seeing those words.
“Who made this painting? That person is so despicable! This is murder by humiliation!”
“The person who bought this painting must be talented. They made money off someone else and then insulted them by calling them an idiot. It’s outrageous!”
“Whoever wants it is an idiot? Mr. Stewart brought this upon himself. He not only failed to give Miss Hussain a proper gift, but also humiliated her…”
People whispered quietly around Lilia, feeling sorry for her embarrassment.
Rose smiled when she saw those words and her eyes formed crescents.
Lilia’s face turned pale with anger as she couldn’t help but say to River, “Are you stupid? You spent 700, 000 dollars on a fake painting and let someone use such low tactics against us?”
“Were you intentionally trying to embarrass my family?”
A fake painting could still be excused, but something like this was disgusting and shameful no matter how one looked at it – especially in such circumstances!
“I didn’t mean it, Ms. Hussain! Please believe me!” River broke out into cold sweat all over his body as he begged for forgiveness with tears streaming down his face.
“That’s enough. Shut up.” Lilia impatiently raised her hand which caused her impression of River to plummet even further.
River’s mood hit rock bottom as he gave Flynn an evil look. Those words didn’t need to appear before everyone; why did Flynn have to show them? Wasn’t that just slapping him in the face?
“Ladies and gentlemen please calm down.” Alfie once again came up onto stage with a microphone saying, “I think half of our guests came here today because they wanted see ‘Phoenix Emerges from Vast Sea.'”
“That piece represents Timothy Houghton’s greatest achievement – divine spirit combined with form creating top-tier work that exudes both arrogance and loneliness.”
“And the colors are so beautiful, with such powerful strokes, every line exudes an unparalleled dominance!”
“Alright! Mr. Russell, stop teasing us and show it already!” The crowd couldn’t wait any longer, their eyes full of anticipation.
“Phoenix Emerges from Vast Sea” was Timothy Houghton’s masterpiece.
Six years ago it was showcased at Eahta and everyone had only seen pictures online but never the real thing.
Today this masterpiece had arrived in Niarak. How could anyone not be anxious to see its true form?
“I’ve finally waited for this moment!” Lilia’s eyes were fixated on the painting as her palms began to sweat with excitement.
Rose was also eagerly anticipating its arrival. She had a photo version of this painting on her phone and would often admire it.
It even served as her screensaver for a long time. Whenever she felt down, she would take out her phone and look at it; each time giving her an infinite amount of strength.
It can be said that “Phoenix Emerges from Vast Sea” accompanied Rose through some of the darkest times in her life, encouraging her to keep moving forward. This painting held deep meaning for Rose; almost becoming like a religion to her.
Alfie saw everyone getting impatient and didn’t say anything more than nod his head in agreement.
Two women wearing high-slit cheongsams walked out from backstage.
A two-meter-long scroll slowly unfolded before them; one meter wide.
A phoenix soaring up into the sky appeared before their eyes with both elegance and dominance.
Boom!
The entire audience was shaken by what they saw.
Everyone stared straight at “Phoenix Emerges from Vast Sea,” their hearts beating wildly as praises erupted all around them, “No wonder this is considered a masterpiece by famous artists everywhere! Its divinity is too high!”
“After seeing this painting online last night, I couldn’t sleep because I was so amazed by it! But seeing the real thing now… it’s even more shocking! It feels like my soul has been directly hit. My whole body trembles!”
“I… I feel exactly the same way! Look how much I’m shaking. There’s an uncontrollable urge within me to bow down before this painting! This isn’t just art anymore. It’s divine workmanship itself! Timothy Houghton truly is a god among men.”
“Screw you man, I’m not dead yet!” Flynn cursed inwardly then turned towards Rose,”Compared to ‘Dragon Roaring in Brurridge,’ how does this one stack up?”
Rose said, “This is my favorite piece. It gives me so much strength when I look at it.”
“I’ve always wanted to see this painting in person, and today I finally got the chance,” she continued.
She stared at “Phoenix Emerges from Vast Sea” with shining eyes, clearly enamored with it.
“You can take it if you like!” Flynn said with a smile.
“Take it?” Kimber scoffed. “Flynn, Ms. Sharp brought in billions of dollars in funding. Don’t encourage her to spend money recklessly.”
“Otherwise, investors will be disappointed if they find out she’s using their money to buy art!”
“And besides, this painting belongs only to Ms. Hussain! No one else can take it.”